What is Polar amplification?

Climate change due to global warming is amplified in the Polar region on the basis of past warm and glacial periods as well as historical observations and climate model experiment. The Polar amplification has become synonymous with an estimation of the ratio of a change in polar temperature with the broader reference change under the same period, usually in global temperature. Here, we are giving the concept, basis of Polar region amplification for the general awareness.

What is Polar amplification?

Polar amplification can be defined as the climate models that predict amplified warming in Polar Regions due to climate feedbacks. In other words, when climate change near the pole compared to the rest of the hemisphere or globe in response to a change in global climate forcing, such as the concentration of greenhouse gases (GHGs) is called Polar amplification.

The assessment effects associated with temperature, water vapour and clouds have been suggested to contribute to amplify warming in the polar region, but the surface albedo assessment —the increase in surface absorption of solar radiation when snow and ice retreat—is often cited as the main contributor. However, Polar amplification is also found in models without changes in snow and ice cover.

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Basis of Polar region amplification

1. Changes in cloud cover

2. Increases in atmospheric water vapour

3. Transport of atmospheric heat from lower latitudes

4. Declining sea ice

The polar amplification is an only climate model that aware the world on the issue of the arctic shrinkage due to global warming. As per projection, between 2060 and 2080 Arctic may be free of the summer ice. Hence, the polar region is often seen as high-sensitivity indicator of climate change. Most simple and important climate models that predict warming at the both the poles, but it is noteworthy that the Antarctica has not warmed as much as the arctic.

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